A Week

I have followed but seldom watched the Trump Coronation festivities in Milwaukee, since there has been four years of campaigning already.  There was no package to unwrap, so to speak.  We know the positioning.  In a little over 100 days we’ll know about the vote.  As is always true, we will get exactly what we deserve, by our vote, throw away vote, or non-vote.  Everyone eligible to vote is ‘counted’ one way or another.

Here is an important commentary filed by Heather Cox Richardson on Thursday night, the end of the Convention.

I’ll click publish on this on Friday morning, July 19, and there’s a lot of chatter swirling around in this rough draft of history.  Trump has made his speech, the billionaires are lining up to donate their millions, we Democrats have our own dilemma, and our own convention is a month from now.  There is the usual cacophony masquerading as wisdom, soon forgotten.  I am very mindful that traditionally campaigning begins in earnest after the conventions and about Labor Day.  I do not recall ever a circumstance where campaigning has gone on continuously, as it has since 2020.

Earlier this week I saw a cartoon that pretty accurately reflects Democrats and Republicans as I’ve come to see them.  Actually, I’ve thought the same for a long time, and like it.  Democrats reflect the real and often messy world of the vast majority of the population.  I see that as a strength, not a weakness.  Democrats have to work things out.  Autocrats don’t.  Here’s the cartoon:

from Reform Austin July 8, 2024

Here’s how the last post began: “Regardless of where you live, please visit and share this website: VOTE.GOV”.  That will be my mantra beginning every post between now and Nov. 5.

Thursday morning I made a list of events, and activities by myself, in the week preceding.

Last Saturday it began with the near miss of assassinating the former president at Butler PA.  At the end of the July 12 post, are my own comments at the time.

(See “SOME QUICK….”  below for some personal memories I’ve added today about security as I’ve seen it evolve, personally).

I’m saving my newspapers and look each day for whatever is said about the shooting.  The story is evolving, as are all the political stories.

Thursday’s paper reports that President Biden has come down with Covid, so this will be another piece of fodder.  Last week I wrote a brief letter to the lawmakers in my orbit who will have some say in the final outcome of who the Democrats endorse for President in August.  I said: “I remain a strong supporter of Biden/Harris.  If the decision is made to change course, I think it is time for the Democrats to consider actively a “Team of Rivals” approach which was apparently Abraham Lincoln’s strategy to deal with division.”   Here’s my current MN Lawmakers list: MN Lawmakers Roster (2) July 9, 2024

I don’t invest my life in this political decision, I’ve done what I can.  In my opinion, President Biden has done a great job, and history will verify that.

I did look back at the Minnesota Presidential Primary on March 5, in which I voted for Joe Biden.  Here’s the result of that “Super Tuesday” vote in Minnesota: MN Presidential Primary March 2024.  People seem to have forgotten about that election, which was official, with lots of notice.  (There is another Minnesota Primary on August 13.  I’ve qualified to be an election judge if needed for that election.  No assignment yet – I asked to be on alternate status.  Here are the candidates on my ballot: MN Primary August 13, 2024).

In the end analysis, each and every one of us is personally accountable for the results of any election.  That’s the bottom line.  There is still over 100 days to show up.

A BIT OF PERSPECTIVE IF YOU’VE GOT THIS FAR: There are about 1,000 billionaires in the United States, some of these mega-billionaires.  They aren’t all Republican, though many are, and for them, a million dollars is chump change.  Against them are over 244,000,000 potential voters on November 5.  The richest billionaire and the poorest citizen each possess a single vote….  All is not lost, unless you give up.

POSTNOTE: Here’s an interesting commentary from Ruth Ben-Ghiat on the political usefulness of crises by authoritarians.  I believe that autocracy is a looming threat to everyone of us.

FINALLY,  SOME QUICK PERSONAL MEMORIES ON SECURITY FOR VIP’S:

Unfortunately, to be in politics has always been a risky business, though most especially now, in the time where ordinary people can be armed and extremely dangerous.

I did a quick list Thursday and was surprised at the number of high level political folks I’ve been in the same room with at one time or another.  It’s been more than a dozen.  Here are four of the most memorable.

1.  Dwight Eisenhower. I was probably between 7th and 8th grade in 1953, and we were in Minot ND the day President Eisenhower flew in on then-Air Force One on business probably relating to the under construction Minot Air Force Base.  We were standing on the sidewalk outside the then brand new Empire Theater, and the President came by in an open convertible, in my memory like John Kennedy in Dallas ten years later.  I don’t recall any nervousness at all around us.  Just an important guy in a convertible.

2.  Gerald Ford.  Probably in the summer of 1975 I took my 11 year old son and a couple of his friends to see Gerald Ford when he came to Minneapolis for some event.  There was a meet and greet across a rope line at the Marriott in Bloomington (a single strand rope if I recall correctly).  There was Secret Service, but we were very close to the President.  Below is the picture I took.  My sons hair is barely visible in this photo, which I took.  President Ford is surrounded by three Secret Service.

Gerald Ford Aug. 19, 1975, Bloomington MN.

3.  In June of 1990 Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev came to the Twin Cities for a day, and I raced around to catch a glimpse, which was a success.  My best photo was when they took off from the Twin Cities airport in the Russian Air Force One.  I was easily able to take photos close to Gorbachev at two other locations during the day.  This is not to suggest there was lack of security – at the same time, it was not oppressive.

Gorbachev’s leaving Minneapolis June 4, 1990

4.  George W Bush.  Sometime, probably the summer of 2005 or 2006, I heard President Bush was coming to town and would be arriving at Twin Cities airport in later morning.  I thought maybe I’d have a chance at a photo of Air Force One landing, and got my gear together, went out to Ft. Snelling, and walked towards the fence on the north edge of the airport.  I was by myself, and just had my camera bag.  I noticed a helicopter overhead, didn’t pay much attention to it, and soon a police car came up and told me I couldn’t stay there.  I’m sure the folks in the chopper were secret service or police.  I walked back to the car, and as I was driving out, in the rear view mirror, Air Force One roared by, landing.

I could list at least several other similar happenings.  I was a completely benign observer every time I went to these events, and so were any others I saw.  But this is not always true, and that is why there is so much sensitivity to security at events like the one at Butler Farm last Saturday.  Somehow there was a major breakdown in communication at the event.  Maybe some day there will be a more complete story.  An innocent bystander was killed, and others injured, so it was not a victimless event.  We need to learn from this.  Though there will never be a risk free environment for anyone in public, especially these days.

THE OTHER VIP’S WITH WHOM I’VE AT LEAST HAD A CLOSE CALL, TO THE BEST OF MY MEMORY: Nelson Rockefeller, Valley City ND 1960; Jimmy Carter, Minneapolis, 1978; John Kerry, Minneapolis 2004; also John Edwards; Barack (twice) and Michelle Obama (once) ca 2008; Joe Biden, twice, Minneapolis and St. Paul, post 2009; Kamala Harris, Minneapolis 2022; Bill Clinton, Minneapolis 1996; Al Gore, Eagan 2000; Walter Mondale, rural St. Paul, early 2000s.  With each there is a story, well remembered.  Maybe some other time..!

COMMENTS (more at end):

from Michelle: Thank you Dick

from Rich: Hey, Dick, I wanted to share that I was also near the Empire Theater on that day. President Truman also visited Minot, probably for the same reason. On the ceremonial side of it all, my father’s college band was present on both visits to greet the president. This was “a beginning” for Minot. In the days of our youth the Cold War was a reality.

from Brian:  Interesting your comments about security for VIPs!  Reminds me of when I worked with WOCCU in Bolivia and one time  First Lady Hillary Clinton came down to see what we were doing.  (Helping credit unions help poor indigenous people.)

Louisa was asked to be Hillary’s personal escort in La Paz and nearby.   That was interesting!    At La Paz airport our plane was right next to hers!    When she left we had a “wheels up party”, meaning since all went well, the wheels of her plane’s landing gear got sucked into the body and she was gone–whew!

Thanks for sharing!

from Brian, 1996, photo does not include Hillary, but from the same time as mentioned..

response to Brian from Dick: Your comment reminds me of a comment by Nelson Rockefeller in Valley City ND in June, 1960.  Here’s the newspaper account: Politics 1960 vs 1996001.  See the top of the second column.  I had an actual copy of the newspaper article, and my recollection was the incident happened in Venezuela, the motorcade being egged or such at some point.  I no longer have the newspaper account, from the Fargo Forum, but official archival material suggests that my account and Gov. Rockefellers, relates to a visit by Eisenhower to Latin America in Feb. 1960. Here.  [POSTNOTE July 31, 2024]: I’m reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s, excellent  An Unfinished Love Story, about the 1960s, and on page 104 she comments on a planned trip by JFK to Caracas and Bogota in December, 1961: “During a goodwill mission to Venezuela [in 1958], Vice President Richard Nixon’s motorcade had been attacked by a crowd shouting anti-American slogans.  Before the motorcade made it safely to the embassy, Nixon’s car was rocked back and forth, its windows smashed.  The prospective trip, the State Department officials and the Secret Service warned, was too dangerous.”

from Christine in Europe:  I read with much interest your last note. I am very much interested in politics over the world, as you know.

Just for saying, I also had some unexpected opportunities to meet some US candidates over the years

– Bill Clinton in London

– Barack Obama in Paris

– Al Gore in Copenhagen

And not a candidate but an important person,

– Nancy Pelosi in Copenhagen with Will Steger

Today, I am having training for the Olympics where I will be working from Saturday morning (27th July)

from Dick: Christine, and Brian, and infinite others we all know, remind us that we are part of the world, not apart from that world.